Kevin Duffy: Calhoun opens the door a crack: Would he coach BC?

Updated 12:04 pm, Saturday, March 22, 2014

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- If Jim Calhoun believes the story to be wildly off-base, if he truly can't stomach the thought of a maroon and gold polo hanging in his closet, then he simply would have slammed that closet door shut.

But, no, it's forever ajar. The conclusion from Friday: The idea of Jim Calhoun returning to coach isn't nearly as wild as it seemed a year ago.

It appears Jim Calhoun wants back in.

And it appears it won't happen at Boston College, because ESPN says Calhoun has significant interest in the B.C. vacancy and Yahoo! Sports says the interest isn't mutual and Jim Calhoun himself says ... well, we're not really sure.

"Someone is speculating, and like I said, I would never say never, and from that it has kind of grown its own life a little bit," Calhoun said in a brief Friday afternoon interview with Hearst Connecticut Media. "You could say, `Well, say you're never going to coach again.' I'm not going to say that."

"I haven't thought about it," Calhoun continued, before promptly correcting himself. "I shouldn't say that; that would be untrue. I haven't done anything about it. I haven't talked to anybody. I haven't asked to talk to anybody. No."

Calhoun said he had no plans other than to be at the Villanova game Saturday. He said he "can't speculate" on interest in the BC job -- the BC job!! -- because "nobody has approached me and I haven't approached anybody."

I'll be honest: I thought I'd write a speech for my induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame before I wrote this story. Jim Calhoun expressing interest in Boston College is like, you know what, forget it. There's no analogy for this.

That, of course, was my first thought. Surely it was yours, too. But consider everything: ESPN's Jeff Goodman, who reported the original story, doesn't operate with TMZ standards. The guy knows his stuff. I can't remember Jeff Goodman being flat-out wrong about anything.

In Goodman's story, Calhoun said, "I would not be opposed to talking to anyone about basketball." He later told The Hartford Courant, "I have not talked to any school and I don't plan on talking to any other school." He later told Hearst Connecticut the same thing, more or less.

Look, Calhoun has extreme pride in UConn and Kevin Ollie. He also has an insatiable craving for basketball and competition.

Niels Giffey said Friday that Calhoun once asked him a question when he "looked into getting involved with certain national teams." According to SNY, Ryan Boatright said, "He's around us all the time. You can see it in his eyes, when we were getting ready for the game (Wednesday), then after we won the game -- you could just see it."

It's tournament time. It's the time of year that must have Calhoun itching, right?

"No, I mean, well going to Memphis (for the AAC tournament) and watching all those games, yeah sure," Calhoun said. "I love the game and hopefully, after 40 years of college coaching and also coaching high school, you're going to miss the game. Like anybody else, you're going to miss it badly. And that's OK."

How feasible would a comeback be?

Calhoun turns 72 in May. He had spinal surgery in February 2012, another surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his lungs in May 2012, and then a third surgery to repair a fractured hip suffered during a bike ride in August 2012. He retired that September, his health certainly a factor.

Although he's two years older, he's got to be in better shape today. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim told Hearst Connecticut, "I think he's healthy now in talking to him and he's got more energy than any young guy that I know. I have absolutely no doubt he could come back if he wanted to."

Kevin Ollie said Calhoun has "earned the right and respect" to do whatever he wants. And if he truly wants to become coach at Boston College, the school that famously blocked UConn from the ACC, the school that in 2003 Calhoun vowed to never play again, there needs to be mutual interest.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the best NBA reporter out there, tweeted Friday afternoon that there isn't interest in Calhoun from BC's end. Like Goodman, he's never wrong. I believe both reports.

It's still interesting to speculate: From BC's perspective, hiring Calhoun would immediately make the Eagles relevant for the first time in, oh, a decade. It would likely be a short-term scenario with a designated long-term successor (maybe Quinnipiac's Tom Moore?). Hey, BC could do worse. It has. Many times.

Then again, Boston College could be locked in on 48-year-old Tommy Amaker, who has brought Harvard basketball to its ceiling. Nobody could knock that hire.

The whole thing is wild, really.

Would BC be comfortable putting the feud to rest? There's a new athletic director in Chestnut Hill these days.

Would Calhoun? Well, when asked about UConn's non-conference schedule this past January, Calhoun said the Huskies "long-term wise would like to go forward with Boston College, Providence and UMass to get some local rivalries."

Would Calhoun be comfortable competing with UConn and Kevin Ollie for recruits? That's dicey stuff.

Jim Calhoun in a maroon-and-gold polo: Still extremely tough to envision. But you know that closet where the polos hang? I don't know if that closet door will ever shut.